Floor tool or nozzle for air-method



FLOOR TOOL OR NOZZLE FOR AIR METHOD CLEANERS Original Fi led Aug. '7,1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l March 19, 1935- D. B. REPLOGLE 1,994,370

FLOOR TOOL OR NOZZLE FOR AIR METHOD CLEANERS Original Filed Aug. 7, 1928 S'Sheets-Sheet 2 a March 19, 1935. D. B. REPLOGLE FLOOR TOOL OR.NOZZLE FOR AIR METHOD CLEANERS Original Filed Aug. 7, 1928 5Sheets-Sheet 3 Iva/67%).- 1B. Re oZfyZe,

Patented. Mar. 19, 1 935 lgJNITED STATES FLOOR TOOL OB NOZZLE FOBAIR-METHOD CLEANERS Daniel Benson Replogle, Berkeley, Calif., as-

signor to Citizens Trust Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio,as trustee or inal application August 7, 1928, Serial No.

297,969. Divided and this application March 24, 1931, Serial No. 525,008

11 Claims.

The invention relates to cleaning apparatus of the type knowncommercially under the registered trade-mark Air-Way, and moreparticularly to the floor tools or nozzles of such appa- 5 ratus.

The present application is a division of my prior application Serial No.297,969, filed August 7, 1928, now Patent No. 1,912,386, dated June 6,1933. In order that the features of the present application may be morereadily understood in its preferred embodiment, some of the featureswhich are claimed in my prior application will be described, but it willbe obvious that the subject matter claimed in the present application isto be considered as capable of independent use.

The present application is also a continuation in part of my priorapplication Serial No. 15,529, filed March 14, 1925, which applicationin turn contains subject matter disclosed in my prior applications andpatents as follows:

(a) Application Serial No. 101,695, filed June 5, 1916, now Patent No.1,345,550,-granted July 6, 1920.

(b) Application Serial No. 279,467, filed Feb. 26, 1919, now Patent No.1,533,271, granted Apr. 14, 1925.

Application Serial No. 427,088, filed Nov. 29, 1920, now abandoned.

-(d) Application Serial No. 428,159, filed Dec. 3, 1920, now abandoned.

(e) Reissue application Serial No. 509,710, filed Oct. 22, 1921, nowreissue Patent No. 16,224, granted Dec. 15, 1925. p

(f) Application Serial No. 729,418, filed Aug. 1, 1924, now Patent No.1,541,280, granted June 9, 1925.

An important object of the invention is to improve the form and methodof manufacture of the floor tool in the interests of efliciency ofoperation and economy in construction.

The present application relates primarily to the floor tool or nozzle,which is preferably prorestricted mouth, and hence is particularlyadapt:

ed to serve as a housing for a revoluble brush, which brush and itsoperating mechanism form no part of the subject matter claimed in thepresare retained stroker elements, the tips of which.

are permanently curved and extend beneath the inner walls of thepockets. The nozzle is also provided with sheet metal sockets secured tothe cylindrical surface of the nozzle on opposite sides of the mouth,and having end openings adapted to receive the shanks of supporting endrollers.

In the accompanying drawingssetting forth an illustrative embodiment ofthe invention, the

nozzle or floor tool is shown provided with a re- ,volving brush, andoperating means therefor, in order that the relation between the nozzleand mechanism carried thereby and cooperating therewith may be morereadily understood.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view ofafloor sweeper embodying the invention, thefloor tool or nozzle of the sweeper being shown as provided with areversible rotatable brush, operated by an independent source of power,parts of the mechanism being shown "in horizontal section so as to showthe brush housing, brush-operating means and reversing cams;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in end elevation and partly in vertical sectionthrough the brush housing and showing the driving means interposedbetween the brush motor and the brush;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view on a reduced scale showing a completeportable suction cleaner equipped with the improved floor tool which isprovided with the independently driven reversible brush;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view'of the floor tool, showing the motor, thespring-supported rollers for the tool, the spring supports for therollers and the yokesat opposite ends of the tool connecting the rollersupports, and furnishing a resilient support for the axis of therotating brush;

I Fig. 5 is a front view of the suction cleaner;

Fig. 6 is a side view of the cleaner, showing, among other features, thefloor-engaging means, a tripper for automatically reversing the rotationof the brush, and one of the brush supports and spring stirrups forholding the automatic reversing means out of operation;

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view showing a pair of rollers, springsupports therefor, the brush-supporting yoke connecting the springsupports, and the stirrups carried by the yoke;

Fig. 815 a detail view showing one of the floorengaging strokers or lipsof the suction cleaner;

Fig. 9 is an end view showing a metal cap mounted on the end of thebrush housing, having a slot to permit removal of the brush, and havingslides on the outer face of the cap adapted to receive a reaction platewhich coacts with a reversing cam on the end of the shaft of the brush;r

Fig. 10 is a vertical section of said end cap,

said section passing through the slot of the cap action members whichcoact with the trippercams to produce reversal of the brush;

Figs. 14 and 15 are central vertical sections of the reaction plateshown in Fig. 13, but looking in opposite directions;

Figs. 16 and 17 are central horizontal sections of the reaction plateshown in Fig. 13, but looking in opposite directions;

Fig. 18 is a detail elevation showing one of the I shields, ferrules ordust caps mounted on the shaft of the brush at the end of the brushhousing;

Fig. 19 is an end view showing the rollers, spring supports,brush-supporting yoke and stirrups, and showing in dotted lines thereversing tripper held in inoperative position by one of the stirrups;

Fig. 20 is a fragmentary plan view showing a portion of the brushhousing with the motor removed to show the means for adjustably mountingthe motor;

Fig. 21 is a section on the line 21-21 of Fig. 20;

Fig. 22 is a top plan view of the mechanism for transmitting power fromthe motor to the brush, such mechanism being capable of producingrotation of the brush in either direction without reversal of the motor;

Fig. 23 is a section on the line 2323 of Fig. 22;

Figs. 24 and 25 are details of a spring washer mounted on the shaft.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 3, an illustrativeembodiment of the invention in which a motor for independently operatingan automatically reversible brush is applied to a portable pneumaticcleaner of a type similar to that set forth in my Patent No. 1,887,-600, dated November 15, 1932.

In this figure the reference numeral 30 denotes the ordinary fan motorfor producing suction in a suction pipe 31, which pipe may be detachablyconnected to stub handle 32 of a suitable floor tool 33, as'by means ofthe spring connection 34, shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The floor tool may be mounted upon a plurality of rollers 35, preferablyspring-supported, as shown in Fig. '7.

One of the important features of the invention included in my Patent No.1,912,386 consists in providing a motor 36 separate from and independentof the suction-producing motor 30. The motor 36 is connected to operatea revolving brush 37, shown in Fig. 11, by suitable driving connections,such as that shown in detail in Figs. 22 and 23. As shown, the motor 36is mounted substantially over the center of the cleaner, so that themachine is balanced. A short connection between the motor and the toolis desirable in order that the motor will not interfere with theoperation of the device when it is used to clean underneath some lowobject, as for example, a bureau.

The motor 36 may be operated from any convenient source of electricalpower, which may be either the same as or different from that operatingthe fan motor 30. As shown in Fig. 3, the same source of current isemployed for both motors, this being supplied by means of a cord 55which runs down the suction handle 31 and attaches to the fan motor 30.An outletsooket 56 is provided on the fan motor 30 and a socket 57 onthe motor 36, permitting a detachable connection between the two motorsby means of a cord 58.

This arrangement permits the two motors to be operated from a singlesource of electrical current, and when the floor tool is to be removedfrom the suction handle, the electrical connection between the twomotors 30 and 38 is broken by merely removing one of the plugs attachedto the cord'53 from its socket, so that there is no interference withthe complete separation of the floor tool from the suction handle.

The shaft 38 of the motor extends through the housing 33 of the floortool and carries at its lower end a member 39, the irmer concave surfaceof which carries a concave friction lining 40. preferably of leather,which is tightly secured to the member 39 as by gluing. The shape of theinner surface of the member 39 is preferably a segment of a sphere whichin plan appears as a circle (see Figs. 22 and 23).

The friction surface 40 of the rotating member 39jis adapted to coactwith a ring-shaped member 41, the outer surface 42 of which ispreferably in the form of a segment of a sphere, so as to smoothlyengage the concave spherical surface 40. The ring member 41 is securedto the outside of the hollow brush 37, so that rotation of the ring 41will also rotate the brush.

It will be apparent from a consideration of Figs. 1 and 2 and acomparison of the respective cross sections of the cylindrical housingor nozzle of the cleaner, the roller 37 and the outlet conduit 32, thatthe cross-sectional area of the outlet conduit is of substantial size ascompared with the cross-sectional area of the nozzle, omitting theportion occupied by the brush, being not less than one-half theeffective cross-sectional area of the nozzle, whereby free passage ofair through the cleaner is made possible, a feature which isparticularly desirable in view of the use of end openings in the nozzlewhich allow a large quantity of air to enter the same. This free passageof air is a characteristic feature of the present device as comparedwith other devices operating on the principle of obtaining a high degreeof vacuum by restricting the openings to the highest possible degree.

It will be obvious from an imspection of Figs. 22 and 23 that when thering member 41 is directly under the center of the friction member 40,there will be no contact and consequently no rotation of the ring member41 and the brush carried thereby, even when the motor is in operation.When, however, thering is at one side of the center, the ring 41 willcontact with the surface 40, and will be rotated thereby, and itsdirection will depend on which side of the center the contact is made.It will be seen that by shifting the brush 37 back and forth parallel toits axis, the ring 41 may be moved to one side or the other of thecentral position, and reversal of the direction of rotation of the brushmay be secured. Automatic means for producing such reverse] are providedand will be described hereinaf er.

In view of the above-described operation, it will be obvious that it isimportant to accurately position the motor shaft 38 lengthwise withreference to the brush, and also to accurately determine the height ofthe friction surface 40. The accurate positioning of the shaft33 is madepossible by providing adjustable means for securing the motor to thehousing 33. This is accomplished by providing slots 42, 43 (Fig. 20),elongated in a direction parallel to the brush housing, and by providingextension slots 44, on each side of the aperture 45, through which themotor shaft 38 extends. The motor is secured to the housing by means ofscrews, one of which is shown at 46 in Fig. 2. Under some circumstancesit may be desirable to shift the motor shaft slightly out of the centralposition, and this is made possible by the elongated slots. I

In order to adjust the height of the motor to compensate for wear of thefriction surface over a period of years, and to insure proper contactwith the ring member 41, a plurality of thin washers 47 are provided,which may be removed, one at a time; as it becomes necessary.

While leather is preferred for the surface 40, other friction materialmay be employed. The ring 41, however, which is mounted on the brush 37,is preferably of metal, and the combination of leather and metal will befound durable and requires no lubrication.

The brush 37 may be of any suitable material, as wood, with suitabletufts or bristles 48 spirally arranged thereon, as shown in Fig. 11. Therotatable brush 37 is provided with a non-rotatable shaft 50 betweenwhich and the inner surface of the hollow brush, bearings 51 ofimpregnated wood or other suitable material are provided. For properlubrication of the bearings and central shaft, the annular space 52between the shaft 50 and interior surface of the brush is filled withgraphite particles 53, which provide an eflicient dry lubrication. Caps53' are fixed to the shaft 50, near the'ends thereof, by means ofpins54, and prevent access of dust and loss of graphite, as well asproviding for the proper assembling of the parts of the brush.

The brush'is detachably mounted within the housing 33, the ends of theshaft 50 of the brush being supported by removable plates 60, clearlyshown in Figs. 1, 2 and 13, which fit in guides 61 carried by caps 62 onthe ends of the housing 33, these caps being slotted as at 63 to permitremoval of the brush. The plates are reversible and are provided withslots 65, one above and one below a central aperture 64, through whichaperture the shaft 50 passes (see Figs. 13-16). The plates areresiliently supported by spring yokes 66 carried by supporting arms 67upon which are mounted the rollers 35. Each yoke 66 is engaged withinthe upper groove of the plate 60, and in this manner the cleaner tool issupported in such manner that the brush 37 and the lips or strokers 68carried by the housing 33 are slightly above the surface of the floorwhen the tool is not in operation, but when pressure is exerted on thetool handle, the roller supports and spring yokes 66 yield suilicientlyto permit the strokers 68 and brush 37 to lightly engage the floor. I

The roller supports are shown. in Fig. 7 and may be of a type such as isset forth in my Patent No. 1,541,280. As shown, spring members '69 aresecured to the lower bars of the supports by rivets 70, these springmembers being provided with thumb pieces 71 for depressing the springswhen inserting them into their sockets 72 (Figs. 4 and 5), or removingthem therefrom. Lugs 73 are provided which extend within the sockets andengage notches 74 in the spring members 69 and prevent accidentalremoval of the roller supports. As shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, thesockets for the roller supports are supplied by attaching to the floortool a hollow sheet member 74a, extending along the front of the tooland by attaching twoshort hollow members '75 at the rear of the floortool on each side of the stub handle 32. These sheet metal members maybe made at low cost from stock material, which is bent to the requiredform and the proper lengths cut 01!. They "of the floor.

are then secured to the floor tool by welding or in any other suitablemanner. As shown in Fig. 2, extensions 77 of the sheet hollow metalsocket members form, with the tool housing 33, pockets 78 in which arecarried the floor engaging strokers or lips 68. The strokers arepreferably composed or non-metallic material, as set forth in myapplication Serial No. 15,529, file March 14, 1925, of

which the present application is a continuation in part, and eachstroker is provided with a permanently bent or curved tip portion 68awhich, when the strokers are in place within the downwardly openingpockets or sockets 78, extend beneath the inner wall 33a of the pocket,which inner wall, as shown in Fig. 2, is an integral portion of thenozzle.

It will be obvious from the above description that the brush 37 may bereadily detached from the housing 33 by first withdrawing the roller andyoke units shown in Fig. 7, which permits the end plates 60 to be slidout of the guides 61, carrying with them the shaft 50 carrying brush 37,which shaft is readily withdrawn through slots 63 in end caps 62.

The means for automatically reversing the direction of rotation .of thebrush 37 in accordance with the direction of movement. of the cleaner asa whole over the floor will be described. For producing this result,tripper members 79 are fixedly secured on each end of the shaft 50.These members are adapted to engage the floor at the beginning of eachstroke of the cleaner and are provided with arcuate floor-engagingsurfaces 60, which are of friction material such as rubber. When thecleaner is not in operation the tripper members are held slightly abovethe floor, but when pressure is applied to the handle the trippers arebrought into contact withthe floor and are swung either backward. orforward, depending on the direction of movement of the tool. Each ofthese tripper members is provided with a cam 81, which, when the tripperis rotated in one direction, engages with a complementary cam surface82, formed on the adjacent reversible reaction plate 60. The effect ofthis reaction is to move the shaft 50, and with it the brush 37 and ring41, lengthwise of the axis! of the shaft and thus bring the ring 41 intoengagement with one side of the friction surface of the rotating clutchmember 39, producing rotation of the brush in one direction or theother, depending on the direction in which the tripper is moved by itscontact with the surface of the floor.

As previously noted, the reaction plates 60 are reversible. As one partof the cam surface 82 on this plate is high and the other low, it isobvious that by reversing the reaction plates, thedirection oflengthwise movement of the shaft in response to rotation of the trippermembers 79 may be reversed. Thus it will be possible to have the brushrotate in such direction as to assist the movement of the cleaner as awhole, or by reversing the plates the brush may be caused toautomatically rotate in such direction as to oppose the movement of thetool, whether the tool be moved forward or backward over the surface Inorder to make certain that the plates on opposite sides of the brushshaft have their cams set to cooperate with, rather than to oppose eachother, the plates are preferably marked with contrasting colors aboveand below the center of the plate, as for example, red and blue, asshown at 83 and 84 in Fig. 13. Thus, if the same color is above thecenter on both plates, the operator will know that the cam surfaces areso positioned as to cooperate in moving the shaft axially. He will alsoknow that when one predetermined color is up on both plates, therotation of the brush will always be such as to assist the movement ofthe cleaner as a whole, and that when the other color is up, therotation of the brush will oppose the movement of the cleaner.Obviously, any other convenient means of marking the plates other thanby contrasting colors may be employed if desired.

It is sometimes necessary to have the brush rotate always in the samedirection, regardless of the direction of movement of the cleaner, asfor example, when cleaning rugs having the nap running in a singledirection. For this reason, means are provided for holding the tripper'79 out of contact with the floor. To this end, a pair of springstirrups 85 are provided on each of the yokes 66, being positioned atapproximately equal distances on each side of the pivot of the trippers79, as shown most clearly in Fig. 19. By manually raising the tripper onone side or the other of its pivot it may be frictionally engaged withone of the stirrups, and thereby prevented from engaging the floor andfrom automatically reversing the direction of movement of the brush witheach change of direction of movement of the cleaner as a whole.

Obviously by having two stirrups, one on each side of the pivotof thetripper, the brush may be set to rotate constantly either forward orbackward, whichever may be desired.

A particular structure has been described with great particularity forthe purpose of illustration, but it is obvious that many of the detailsmay be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a suction cleaner, an elongated nozzle having pockets formed inthe front and rear walls of said nozzle and detachable non-metallic lipsin said pockets, permanently curved inwardly and forming a relativelyrestricted mouth portion,

Y said nozzle having an enlarged interior and a cylindrical outletconduit communicating with said interior and having its axis at rightangles to the axis of the nozzle.

2. In a suction cleaner having a suction nozzle provided with anelongated air inlet mouth, pockets formed in the walls of said nozzle,one in front of and one. in rear of said inlet mouth, and non-metallicstroker elements detachably mounted in said pockets, each havingpermanently bent tips extending beneath the walls of said pockets andinto the mouth portion of said cleaner.

3. A suction cleaning tool comprising an elongated nozzle having anoutlet opening intermediate its ends and an inlet mouth opposite theoutlet opening, the nozzle being provided with permanently curvednon-metallic lips each having a tip portion extending partially into themouth of the nozzle, and inner walls integral with the nozzle extendingsubstantially to the tips of the non-metallic lips.

4. In a suction cleaner, an elongated suction nozzle having an enlargedinterior and an inlet mouth, a pair of open pockets in the nozzle at thesides of the mouth, and a pair of nonmetallic application members, onemounted in each of the pockets, each member having a permanently curvedtip portion extending into the mouth.

pockets extending to the tip of the corresponding lip member.

6. In a suction cleaner, an elongated suction nozzle having an outletconduit intermediate its ends, adapted for attachment to a suction pipe,an inlet mouth extending lengthwise of the nozzle, a pocket formed inthe nozzle adjacent the mouth and opening downwardly, and a nonmetallicstroker mounted in the pocket, said pocket having an inner wallextending substantially to the tip of the stroker, and the strokerhaving a permanently curved tip extending beneath the inner wall of saidpocket.

7. In a suction cleaner, a cylindrical nozzle having a relativelyrestricted mouth, and longitudinally extending sheet metal socketssecured to the cylindrical surface of the nozzle on opposite sides ofsaid mouth having end openings adapted to receive the shanks ofsupporting end rollers.

8. In a suction cleaner, a cylindrical nozzle having a relativelyrestricted mouth, and iongitudinally extending sheet metal socketssecured to the cylindrical surface of the nozzle on opposite sides ofsaid mouth having end openings adapted to receive the shanks ofsupporting end rollers, said sockets having extensions spaced from andparallel with the cylindrical nozzle adjacent the mouth thereof, andforming pockets for receiving detachable stroker members.

9. In a suction cleaner, a substantially cylindrical nozzle having arelatively restricted mouth, longitudinally extending sheet metal stripssecured to the cylindrical surface of the nozzle on opposite sides ofsaid mouth, said strips having extensions spaced from and parallel withthe front and rear walls of the cylindrical nozzle adjacent the mouththereof, and forming with said wall elongated pockets for receivingdetachable stroker members, said stroker elements being detachablyretained in said pockets and the nozzle walls extending beyond saidstrip extensions substantially to the tips of the strokers.

10. In a suction cleaner, an elongated suction nozzle having arestricted mouth, a pair of open pockets in the nozzle at the sides ofthe nozzle, and a pair of non-metallic application members, onedetachably mounted in each of said pockets, the inner wall of eachpocket extending downwardly beyond the outer wall thereof substantiallyto the .tip of the corresponding application member, the tips of saidapplication members being permanently curved and extending beneath saidinner walls.

11. In a suction cleaner, an elongated suction nozzle having an inletmouth, a pair of open pockets, in the nozzle at the sides of the mouth,and a pair of non-metallic application members, one mounted in each ofthe pockets, each member having a permanently curved tip portion, onewall of each of said pockets extending to the tip of the correspondinglip member.

DANIEL BEN REPLOGLE.

